Not buying into the "Wapak did nothing in the off-season" statement. Wapak has been the dominant Lima area wrestling team for many years for a reason. After losing the WBL to Defiance last year, I do not see Coach Rostorfer and crew sitting back and doing nothing. Wapak has multiple state qualifiers back (three or four?) lost little from last year's team. The only way I see them doing nothing is if there whole team is on the undefeated WBL championship football team!

I favor Defiance, Bath, and Wapak to remain at the top three. Defiance and Bath will have two of the more balance teams in the league more about them later.

Wapak has the three State qualifiers back Ambos, Hall, and Brown along State alternate Newman those are big points. They will get contributions from Duncan, Copeland, Robenalt, Hefner, and the younger Newman. However will that be enough to unseat Defiance?

Bath will throw a quality kid in about every weight from 106-285. I really like them as a team. They will be lead by Wheeler, Garrett, and Lhamon. Davis back into the mix will help solidify the middle weights. Rabley and Rudasil will help anchor the upperweights both have experience and a lot of upside. You add Stonehill, Cunningham, Kalb, I. Ingram, Vore, Gross, J. Neal and McConnell and they will be tough to beat. Look for another good dual with Defiance.

Last years performance by Defiance at the league was unexpected at least to me, I really thought the tournament was going to be much closer than the eventual 60+ victory margin. Defiance can be scary good. They lost league champs Zipfel and C. Chavez along with E. Troupe, but this years version dare I say can be even better. They will add K. Clellan, D. Barajas, F. Chavez, and T. Grunden to the lineup. I don't think they skip a beat.

I look for Defiance to win the league with Wapak and Bath in that order. I think balance wins in the end and Defiance's balanced team will be the difference. I like Defiance's depth over both Wapak and Bath.

With that said, its just one guys opinion. Good luck to all the wrestlers this year and I hope for a safe year for all.

Reverse - thanks for organizing all of that information! From reading your info, the only thing I see is that you list Hennon still at Shawnee, but he went to LCC with Lucas. Another forum stated that Hefner was not wrestling this year; if that is true, Shawnee has lost some excellent this year.

Also, Cunningham from Bath is at LCC, which will impact Bath's ability to match up at all weight classes.

The assessment of Defiance, Wapak and Bath as the top 3 cannot be disputed, as there seems to be significant gap between the top 3 and the rest of the league. I am sure the other teams will compete to catch up, but it may take some time for those teams to develop the depth the top 3 seem to have.

Looking forward to the season starting; the WBL and the Lima area appear to have some excellent individuals this year.

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Defiance will remain the team to beat. Plenty of returning experience, depth, and an off season program that no one else in the league is even close to matching. They will be solid from top to bottom, with Bowers and Grunden leading the way.

Wapak - don't count them out. Return a solid line-up that features SQ's w/Ambos, Hall, and Brown. Also have state alternate w/Newman, add a healthy Copeland and they feature a squad with a lot of upside.

Bath - the program is on the decline. Three coaches in four years and seniors Davis, Garrett, McConnell, and underclassman Stahl deciding not to wrestle leave huge holes to fill. One year and done coaches is not the answer.

Seems that the Wapak-Defiance dual is the one to see this year. Online schedules show January 6 at Wapak. If last year's WBL is any indication, seems Defiance is better tournament team than dual at times. If Wapak is going to get Defiance, perhaps the daul is hte best chance.

With most teams having assessed, any surprises out there? Seems that Hefner is not participating at Shawnee, which is a mystery, but Shawnee was most likely not a threat as a team this year anyway, but that certainly diminishes their overall program.

As init4life stated, will be interesting to see the results at Bath this year with coaching changes as a norm.

Lhamon may win the WBL at 220, but I doubt will be "easily" won. Start with Wapak and Defiance and then work through the rest of the league - somebody will present a serious challenge to your sons ascendance to greatness.

Wapak took 3rd at the Findlay duals yesterday. A big blow to the Wapakoneta team with Colton Brown deciding not to wrestle this year, he told Coach Rostorfer on Monday and on Wednesday the back up Ryan Lowden quits leaving Wapak with no one at 195.